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Bayf here.
I entered the Rough Ride event on the 3rd of June. On my own for this one as Bruce hadn't ridden in anger yet and Duncan still feels he can't manage this sort of thing. This is not a race, although we had timing chips fitted to our bikes, it's an organised ride starting and ending at Kington (mid-Walesish). The main route was over 75km but I decided to take the short cut option and just did the 42km route. I'm glad I did because the climbs were some of the longest and gruelling I've done and I certainly felt the effort when I got back to Kington.
I'd been checking the BBC weather website every half hour leading up to the event but it turned out well on the day. The trails were mostly dry and it wasn't too hot.
I'd done the same event (slightly different route) last year and it was baking all day. Thank you Mr Camelbak.
It's a great event because it's not a race, however there were the usual - "I'm tired, I'll stop in the middle of the track" riders, who mess up whatever rythm you've managed to keep going.
But generally a great event and you get a good t-shirt at the end (oohh!).
Hopefully we'll all be fit enough to enter next year.

I also finally took the plunge and bought a new towball mounted bike rack. I'd been borrowing my neighbors but he asked for it back the day before the Rough Ride which made up my mind to get my own.

One of it's first uses was to take Christine and I off to Salcey forest to tackle the 5 mile, flat as a pancake, beautifully surfaced forest cycle trail.
The big deal here is that Chris hasn't ridden her new MTB since I bought it for her two years ago so getting her to ride in Salcey was a great achievement.

Bruce and I are going to try an easy route around Buckingham this Saturday to see how his recovery is going. He certainly seems to have most of his flexibility back.